The Flash and the Panned: The 10 Best Films by Tony Scott

While his brother got the all the buzz, Tony Scott made some of the most interesting films of the '80s and '90s. Here's our listing of his telling Top Ten.

With his suicide on 19 August of 2012, Hollywood and the world of film lost one of its most influential and frustrating filmmakers. Tony Scott, brother to fellow artist Ridley Scott, got his start as his older sibling did - in the world of commercials. After art school, he ended up working for for the family business. For years, he helped guide the RSA, the brothers’ company, creating memorable ads and watching the bottom line while Ridley went on to titanic Tinseltown success. Before long, Tony had joined the fray, parlaying decent notices for The Hunger (and a jet-themed commercial for SAAB) into a chance to helm Top Gun. While he wasn’t convinced of the project’s viability, he took the reins anyway. The rest is early ‘80s legend. Gun became a megahit, and suddenly Tony was the Scott in the brightest beams of the spotlight.

It would become a complicated career. With any spec script at his disposal, Scott made the odd decision to direct Beverly Hills Cop II (for friends and Gun guys Simpson and Bruckheimer). He then tackled another Cruise concern (Days of Thunder) before bombing with the Kevin Costner led romance, Revenge. Thanks to a young industry upstart, however, Scott would regain his footing and become a frequent A-lister. Indeed, Quentin Tarantino’s True Romance would be, what many consider, the quintessential example of the man’s work. Before his death, he had nearly 17 features under his belt. As a result, we’ve decided to break down his oeuvre into a telling 10 best. While his efforts weren’t always great, there were consistently interesting. Too bad he choose leave us before he could fully expand his cinematic horizons.

#10 : The Taking of Pelham 123

It’s tough to determine Scott’s least successful “success.” No one would champion the bungled Beverly Hills Cop sequel (it looks like an Obsession ad gone gonzo) or the spastic Spy Game. So we choose to go with this anomaly, a remake that doesn’t destroy outright the memory of the original. As he would through four other Scott films, Denzel Washington is our hero, up against an angry ex-Wall Street whiz bent on revenge, played with scenery-chewing skill by John Travolta. The result is more action-oriented than the original, but still contains enough character twists and turns to better some of the filmmaker’s flaws.

#9: Enemy of the State

Will Smith is a poor Denzel substitute. Still, after the flame-out known as The Fan, Scott needed some practical bankability. He got it in the post-ID4/MiB star. Sadly, the rest of the movie didn’t make much sense. Some were saddened to see co-star Gene Hackman apparently riffing on his character from The Conversation, but for the most part, his turn is the least troubling aspect of the film. No, the real issue is the botched Big Brother theme, undercut (and overwritten) with too much high tech gobbledygook. For others, it was just a bunch of empty action beats.

#8: The Hunger

Scott announced himself as an equal to his already established brother Ridley with this ridiculously campy and carnal vampire effort. Catherine Deueve is the aging neckbiter entranced by a young (and vital) Susan Sarandon. Rocker David Bowie plays a previous paramour now cast aside and destined to dry up and die, literally. Sure, there’s a whole medical subplot involving a cure for aging and way too much soft focus sexuality, but for the most part, Scott grasps the needs of the genre quite well. Oddly enough, he would never return to horror again.

#7: Deja Vu

Remember how everyone adored Source Code and screamed that David Bowie’s son Duncan Jones had scored another sci-fi smash. Well, this was Source Code before Source Code was a twinkle in the 40-something’s eye. Denzel Washington uses technology to go back in time and prevent a terrorist attack from happening. Naturally, things go a bit wonky when he falls in love with potential victim. Handled with expertise and an innate ability to make the complex plot seem simple, Scott excels at making the possible problematic premise viable. We never doubt the designs, just the decisions involved.

#6: Man on Fire

This was not the first time A.J. Quinnell’s novel was adapted to film. There was a French-Italian production back in the mid-‘80s, starring Scott Glenn. This time, however, Scott signed up creative collaborator Denzel Washington and the actor gives a devastating turn as the ex-CIA agent hired to protect the daughter of a high profile Mexican businessman from cartel kidnappers. When things go astride, his revenge-filled determination comes perilously close to a suicide mission. There’s tragedy and heartfelt emotion here, something usually missing from Scott’s often slick and slight vision.